Snakes and Ladders
by M-M-X-M-X
Summary: Nightime strolls can lead to rather surprising events...and interestingly enough Ginny and Draco end up in a villa in italy together for a week...
1. Chapter 1

_Hello, I hope you enjoy my first Chapter! It was supposed to be longer but I wrote it all on holiday and couldn't be bothered typing up everything, so I decided to turn Chapter one into two chapters :) ah… it feels great to be lazy… :-P lol. Well, have fun reading!_

SNAKES AND LADDERS

CHAPTER ONE : FANTA.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT DEREK AND THE PLOT. ALL HAIL J.K.ROWLING! (You can all hail me too though if you want  )

It's been a couple weeks back at Hogwarts, and a lot of stuff had been happening. Hermione was elected head girl, to no one's surprise. However, Derek, a sixth year slytherin had been appointed head boy, much to everyone's astonishment. Harry and Ron had been anxious that Draco Malfoy would have gotten chosen, but apparently not.

Ginny was now in her fifth year at Hogwarts, and her mother had been very disappointed that she had not been voted prefect. Fred and George however had been delighted, and had wasted no time in telling her.

Also, Percy had come home again. After a few apologies and tearful reunions, he was part of the Weasely family again, and everyone (with the exception of the twins) was happy.

Also, Ginny seemed to notice a change in Draco Malfoy. Maybe she was just fantasizing it, but he seemed to be kinder towards her. Just a _little_ _bit_. But it was scary all the same. He didn't make snotty remarks anymore as she passed the corridors. That might not seem much, but to Ginny it meant a whole load. And it was scaring the shit out of her.

But apart from that, not a lot had changed, except her sudden liking for Derek. Since the first time she'd laid eyes on him in the Hogwarts Express, she'd fantasized about him, and even at night he seemed to be in her dreams. Every time he passed her in the corridors her heart would beat wildly in her chest, and she wouldn't dare look him in the eye. And every time he heard his deep voice, her cheeks would flush and she'd be in Derek Dream land. It was love at first sight for Ginny, and it was killing her, yet she clung on to it with her life.

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It was eight o'clock in the morning, and Ginny Weasely watched as the owls swooped into the great hall, and dropped packages into their owner's laps. Ginny had never owned a pet, and longed for one. She wished she had an owl. One with dark grey feathers and a pointy beak, and light grey or brilliant green eyes.

"Hello? Earth to Ginny." She turned her head and found herself looking into her best friend Hermione's dark brown eyes. She blinked.

"Sorry. Say that again?"

But Hermione had already noticed that she'd been in dream land. And her head just so happened to be turned in Derek's direction… yeah, _right_. Hermione was smiling at her curiously.

"I sense a disturbance in the force." She said, mimicking Anakin Skywalker from _Star Wars_. She only noticed after she said it that she'd made a mistake.

"Say what?"

Hermione shook her head impatiently. "Never mind."

Secretly glad that Hermione had dropped the subject – Ginny didn't want anyone to find out that she had a crush on a slytherin, especially not Hermione, who shared a common room with him – she reached for a piece of toast and bit into it. She preferred her toast plain, unlike most people.

The bell went, and people started flooding out of the great hall and into the direction of their classes. Hermione caught her arm before she could leave, "Hey, want to come over after you've done your homework? We could do each others nails or hair or something? And then I could introduce you to Derek."

Ginny's heart skipped a beat at the voicing of her true loves name. "Sure." She said, trying to clear her face from any expression, scared that her face might reveal something at the mention of Derek's name. "Sounds good."

(Little starry things.)

Class for Ginny was absolute torture that day. Time passed with agonizing slowness, or flew too fast, she couldn't decide. She was dying to meet Derek, for real, but it was nerve-racking at the same time. She couldn't keep her mind off tonight, but hated to think about it.

Finally she laid her quill down. Her hand was aching, but she was glad that it was over and done with. She'd missed dinner to finish off her homework on time, but she didn't care. She wasn't hungry anyway, she was too nervous at the prospect of being formally introduced to Derek. Derek, who had lovely, thick dark brown wavy hair, and intense, mysterious dark brown eyes. Derek, whose voice was so deep and perfect, sent shivers down her spine. Derek… she sighed. She slowly put her ink, parchment and quill back into her bag, savouring the moment that made her feel like she was about to burst of happiness and sadness, excitement and regret. It was a feeling so intense it made you want to burst into tears, yet laugh, laugh as loud and as crazily as you could.

She knew the password to the common room, but hung around, thinking it would be kind of strange if she just walked in. It took her three minutes to mount her courage, weighing the odds that Derek might be in there and she might scare him shitless and then he would die of a heart attack and it would be all her fault, and then she'd have nothing to live for.

"Fried Beetle Juice." She stood there as the window magically disappeared, and clambered through, into the Head Boy and Head Girl Head Quarters. She looked around, stunned. The only colours she could see were black, white and grey / silver. The carpet was a midnight black, and the sofas were bright white. There were bookshelves on the right side of the room, and black marble desks, along with metal silver chairs. The kitchenette had a silver fridge, and marble counters and a marble bar table, with silvery-white bar stools. The kitchenette tiles were silver and black, and even the chandeliers were a metallic-white colour.

Ginny stood there, amazed, trying to take in her surroundings all at once. She didn't even hear Derek come in from his room. She just gaped, and stood there, mesmerised. It was too much to take in all at once.

"Pretty neat, huh?"

That voice… she knew that voice. She swung around to face a tall boy with broad shoulders, and wavy hair that fell down to them. Derek. She blushed, and tried to think of something smart to say. But his handsomeness had made her mind lose all of its more intelligent grammar. "Yeah," she croaked.

Derek handed her a glass of fanta, smiling. She tried smiling back, but she couldn't move. With great effort she pried her eyes off his perfect face, managed a thin, wavering smile and a thanks. She took a sip, and looked down at her drink, amazed.

"What _is _this stuff?"

She saw Derek blush, and wondered if she'd said something bad.

"It's a… um… a muggle drink. You can't get it round here. It's called Fanta… d'you like it?"

Ginny nodded, and took another small, careful sip. She let the sweet, cold, bubbly liquid pass down her throat and shuddered. She'd never had anything like it, and it was incredible. It was like flying for the first time, only there was no whooshing sensation. She smiled widely. "This stuff is _absurd_. What's it called again?"

Derek grinned again, and her heart flipped a couple times in her chest. She hoped it didn't show on her face. "Fanta."

There was no sign of Hermione yet, but Ginny didn't mind. As long as she got to spend more time with her _amante_. She looked into his dark brown eyes, and could feel herself getting lost in them. She could have spent hours staring, except of course, it would have been socially incorrect, and at one point he would probably have asked her is she was high. She was hardly aware that he had been speaking to her; she had been so deeply stuck in Derek-dream-Land.

She blinked. "I'm sorry. What?"

Derek laughed, making her heart do triple summer salts, and her stomach clench. "I was saying that we hadn't been introduced yet." He held out a hand. "My name's Derek."

Ginny shook his hands, trying to stop her fingers from shaking. "Jen- Ginny."

He smiled, and her knees felt weak. She couldn't stop herself from trembling. She tried not to let it show, but he noticed right away. "Are you okay? You don't look very good." Only then did he realise with horror what he had said. "Sorry! That's not what I meant! You do look good! I mean! Ah!" He cringed with embarrassment, and Ginny couldn't help but laugh, even though a little weakly. "I'm sorry. I meant that you know… you looked a bit ill… are you all right?"

Ginny nodded, but he didn't believe her. She was still shaking, though that might have been because he was holding both her hands, and staring up into her face concernedly. His hands felt so warm… so rough, but so tender at the same time. They were the type of hands any girl would want roaming all over her body - #cough# um… hair. (A/N: The '#' is put there in stead of a star because this site won't let me use stars).

"Here… maybe you should sit down for a bit… d'you want water… aspirin…?"

Ginny looked up curiously. "What's aspirin?"

Derek ran a hand through his hair frustrated. "Its… it's this muggle medicine tablet that cures head aches."

"Oh." Ginny processed that information for a moment. "Sounds _weird_."

Derek looked amused. "Yeah. It does, doesn't it?"

Ginny grinned happily. He'd just held her hand, told her she looked good – well in one way or another – and she'd actually managed to make him frustrated, but smile, many, many times. It was by far one of the best days of Ginny Weasely's life. Especially when he came and sat next to her on the couch, and sort of nudged her playfully with his shoulder. "Hey, you feeling better?"

Ginny smiled along, playfully. "A little." She hoped that with this answer he'd put an arm around her shoulder, but to her immense regret he didn't. Instead, he stood up, shoving his hands back into his robe pockets.

"Can I get you anything…? More Fanta…?" He smiled.

"Sure." Ginny said. Then she remembered her manners. "Please."

He grinned, and got two cans out of the fridge, tossing one to her. She caught it, and stared at him. "What?" He asked defensively.

"Um…" Ginny said hesitantly, blushing. "What do you… I mean, how…?"

He understood right away, and apologised. "Oh. Right, sorry. I keep forgetting. Here, see, you just like, pull the metal clip, and then it opens…" He demonstrated, and laughed as she tried to follow suite. "Here… let me help."

But Ginny was determined to do it on her own. After about five minutes she managed, but since it had been shaken around quite a bit, the drink exploded all over her, and on her face. She shrieked, and dropped the can, spilling the liquid all over the carpet.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!" But Derek had already pulled his wand out and cleared the mess on the floor, including the front of Ginny's robes. "Ah!" She exclaimed in embarrassment, and then muttered "thanks" after she'd recovered. She looked up feeling extremely stupid, and saw Derek bent over, he was laughing so hard.

"S-So sorry. B-but you sh-should h-have seen the l-look on your face… s-so f-f-funny." He gasped.

She watched him for about two seconds before having a laughing fit herself. It seemed the more they laughed, the more they had to, and by the time Hermione came down to see what all the noise was about, Ginny was holding onto the counter so not to fall over she was laughing so hard, and Derek was on the floor clutching his sides, tears streaming down both of their faces.

Ginny and Derek calmed down for a while, and when they saw Hermione looking at both of them apprehensively went off into another peel of giggles.

"Well sorry for being concerned for your mental heath." She said; peeved after about ten seconds when they didn't shut up. This didn't help however, and just made Derek clutch his sides harder, and Ginny fall to the floor as well. Hermione tried to think of something more intelligent to say, couldn't think of anything fast enough before they would both choke, and instead went over to the sink, filled to cups with water and dumped them on the boy and the girl on the floor's heads. Instantly the laughing stopped, and Hermione was satisfied, until Derek and Ginny, with evil grins on their faces filled up their own cups, and started for Hermione. She shrieked and tried to run away, but she wasn't fast enough. Derek caught her and spilled his water over her head demonstratively, while Ginny emptied her glass down Hermione's back.

"Ah! Stop! It's cold! Coooolllddd! I beg you! Ah! I'll do anything!" Hermione yelped.

Derek's eyes glinted mischievously. "Anything?" he said in a mock-serial-killer-before-he-kills-his-victim voice. "Anything did you say?"

Hermione nodded vigorously. "Anything. Just – stop."

"Alright then. So, Ginny, what do we want Hermione to do for us?"

Ginny put on a mock thoughtful expression. "Hmm… let me see…"

Derek put on the same expression as Ginny, trying to think of something nasty. When none came however, they decided to pity Hermione and Ginny and Hermione retired to Hermione's room a short while later.

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"You like him right?" Ginny was startled by Hermione's question that she didn't answer immediately with a "what? Are you crazy?" Instead she remained silent and nodded blushing.

"HA!" Hermione exclaimed. "I KNEW it!" She jumped up and down. "You owe me 5 galleons Harry!"

Ginny looked at her, a mixture of embarrassment and horror on her face. "Wait. What? Why does Harry owe you 5 galleons? Who does Harry think I'm in love with?"

Hermione's expression switched from delight to mischievous. "Malfoy."

Ginny choked and went bright red. "He WHAT?"

Hermione laughed at the expression of horror and outrage on her friends face. Ginny Spluttered. When she managed to form a sentence without sounding like an idiot she growled "I'm going to KILL him. What gives him THAT idea?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'd have chosen Malfoy too if I hadn't seen you glance at him" – Ginny let out an indignant cry – "if I hadn't seen you glance at him every 5 seconds when he was within eye reach." She finished, ignoring Ginny's outrageous splutters and gagging noises.

"Well he IS being remarkably nice to you, you know." Hermione said slightly huffily.

Ginny looked at her incredulously. "How?" She hadn't noticed anything that seemed to make Malfoy remotely kind.

"Well he isn't calling you names or scoffing and making nasty comments when you pass him in the corridors anymore is he?" Hermione said as if this made perfect sense. It actually did, but Ginny didn't want to admit to herself that Draco Malfoy could possible NOT hate her. She scowled.

"He's just learnt the meaning of the word 'politeness'."

"Maybe so but doesn't it seem a bit strange?"

Ginny shrugged. She'd rather not talk about it if there was a chance that Malfoy liked her. "Who'd Ron vote for?" She asked curiously. She wouldn't mind a good reason to practice her hexes on her brother either.

"Trevor." Ginny grabbed her head out of exasperation. "Why?" she wailed. "What that stupid hufflepuff PRAT? Why are brothers so STUPID and always manage to make you feel so… urg!" Ginny started for the door.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked curiously. Ginny didn't reply she was to busy pulling out her wand and making a dramatic exit. Her dramatic exit was ruined however, when she bumped into someone while she was walking our of the door, and was nearly knocked to the floor if the person hadn't reached out and grabbed her shoulders to stop her from falling.

"Whoa, sorry, are you all right?"

Ginny looked up rubbing her forehead and turning a couple shades darker pink. "Oh, um, yeah, sorry."

Derek suddenly noticed her drawn want and furious glint in her eyes. "Where are you going?" He asked in the same curious voice as Hermione.

"To curse my brother into oblivion for thinking I was going out with Trevor."

Derek flinched. "That idiot from hufflepuff?"

"The very same."

"Well…" Derek said. "Ordinarily I'd have to de-duct points for that kind of behaviour, but seeing the circumstances, I'll pretend I didn't know." He grinned at her. Ginny smiled back and couldn't help noticing how nice his lips looked when they were smiling.

_Goddammit Ginny! _She scolded herself. _Don't think about that! _"Thanks" she muttered instead, while waving goodbye to him and Hermione who had been watching their little scenario from her bedroom door with a impish glint in her eye, hurrying out of the door which turned into a window almost instantly after she'd shut it, and making her way to Gryffindor tower as fast as possible without actually having to run.

_Hey, thanks for reviewing!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Special thanks to Chantal J and Sam, my first reviewer(s)! Love ya for ever!_

_(Love ya too Meike). _

SNAKES AND LADDERS

CHAPTER TWO : THE LIBRARY UNDER MY BED.

"Prosmoligsmo Quasmaputon." The fat lady nodded absently and swung forward to let her into the student packed Gryffindor common room. She spotted Harry and Ron sitting by a table in a corner, scribbling furiously and looking tired. They didn't look up until she had furiously launched herself at Ron, grabbed him around the neck and attempted to strangle him.

Ron was completely thrown off guard and fell out of his chair, Ginny following him to the floor and hitting him as hard as she could across the cheek. She was satisfied when a bright red hand print appeared on his face.

"What the hell?" Harry had leapt up, causing a couple people to look up as his chair crash to the floor and watch in interest as Ginny beat up Ron as best as she could while he tried to defend himself from her blows, and as Harry tried to wrestle Ginny off Ron.

He finally managed to grab the spitting and snarling Ginny around the waist and hoist her into the air as she struggled to get at Ron, then remembered that Harry had voted Malfoy, and started attacking him instead.

It took Harry, Ron, Fred, George and Lee a whole 10 minutes to get Ginny to calm down, and decide it was safe to release her and explain the situation to Harry and Ron ALONE.

"You know Ginny, "Ron said sourly – and he had a perfectly good reason to: he was after all sporting a black eye and several cuts and scrapes – "If you wanted our attention, you'd just have to ASK."

"Yeah." Harry agreed. "Vhat av ve evah dun to youh?" He had to speak slowly, for Ginny has managed to split his lip, and a nasty bruise was starting to form on his forehead. Ginny was staring to regret her actions, now that she saw the damage shed done.

"Sorry guys." Ron snorted as if to say _yeah, right._ She hung her head shamefully, but then looked up again sharply. "But Hermione told me you thought I was going out with that idiot, Trevor-shit-face-Nolte from Hufflepuff -" Harry and Ron and Harry smiled appreciatively at the nick name, although Harry's smile faded quickly as the pain in his lip increased. "And Draco _Malfoy_ of ALL people. I mean seriously. I don't go around making bets about you and Romilda vain or Mc Gonagall!"

In the end Harry and Ron forgave her, thought grudgingly.

"So Hermione won then?" Harry asked. "Derek is it?" At least, that's what Ginny presumed he was asking. It was kind of hard to tell. He reminded her very much of Fleur de la cour like this, except of course he wasn't part veela. Or female.

Ginny had half the heart to say 'no' but they'd find out anyway, some way or another, and she'd told then Hermione had told them, so she just remained silent and bade them goodnight even though only half past nine.

"So we're taking it as a yes then?"

Ginny stopped at the foot of the stairs and swivelled around. "I suppose so." She grinned wickedly, surprised that she didn't feel more embarrassed, shrugged to herself and started up the stairs to the now empty dormitory.

She sighed and flopped down onto her bed, not noticing that her wand clattered to the floor in the process. "Great, more homework and raspberries" she muttered, not knowing why she said this. Just a case of severe randomness. But it seemed that for once, her complete randomness would come in handy and not make her look stupid.

She felt something move below her. Soundlessly her four poster was sinking through the ground, and as her face came level to the floor she spotted her wand, and realised it must be the password to some secret area in Hogwarts, that obviously Harry nor Ron knew about.

She quickly retrieved her wand and sat up straighter, her heart beating wildly in her chest, hoping it had nothing to do with the chamber of secrets. Ever since the passage way under ground she had found in her first year at Hogwarts, that led into the legendary chamber of secrets, she had become paranoid about secret underground places. She could easily have called Harry and Ron and asked them to come with her, but Ginny was not a coward. If it really _was_ evil, it certainly wouldn't have been in a Gryffindor dormitory. Maybe a Slytherin dormitory or common room but not Gryffindor.

She clutched her wand, and watched as the four poster lowered her into a blackened room, and as the four poster hit the floor, the torches flared on instantly, and Ginny got a good look around the room. It looked a lot like a library, except that there were no books. Rows upon rows of seemingly empty bookshelves lined the room, and the room was so huge she couldn't make out the end. It seemed to be at least four times the size of the quidditch stadium she'd been at two years ago.

Gingerly, she climbed off the four poster, which, when it felt that Ginny was sitting on it, started back up.

"Hey! Wait!" Ginny yelled, but it was too late. She was stuck here forever she was sure of it. _Okay, don't panic._ She instructed herself. "HEEEEELP!"

Obviously, that didn't work. _Okay, think, Ginny. _"Homework and raspberries." She listened attentively, but nothing happened. _Okay…_ she thought._ If that was what brought me **down**, and I want to go **up**, then I want the reverse of what happened… so that makes…_ "Raspberries and homework" she said tentatively, almost sure that something would happen. But nothing did. _Okay, well if that didn't work then I have to flip the words backwards… so that would make…_ "Seirrebpsar dna krowemoh." She said, feeling quite stupid, and watched as part of the wall crumbled to form a stair case.

"YES!" she yelled victoriously. She rushed for the stair case, but fell back on the third step. Now that she knew how to get out, she wasn't in such a hurry to leave. She turned, and looked back at the room, curiosity was written all across her pretty freckled face.

She started walking slowly past empty bookshelves, sometimes pausing to brush off dust, and to bend down and inspect something that might look suspicious, but then realise it was only a dent, or a nail. An hour later she had counted 846 bookshelves, 414 fireplaces and lots and lots of dust. By that time, she was feeling quite sleepy, and she still had that ruddy potion's essay due tomorrow, and to top it off, potions was her worst subject, Hermione refused to help her because of course – how would Ginny learn? – And she hadn't found a particularly interesting or helpful book in the library, and now she was stuck in the biggest one in the world and THERE WERE NO BOOKS.

"_Bloody_ Snape. He can stuff his _bloody potions_ essay."

And then she gasped, because the minute those words left her lips, books had filled up the shelves. Millions and millions of books. Old dusty tomes, and shiny paperbacks, think books, thick books, worn out books, brand spankin' new books, you name it, it was there.

She moved cautiously towards the nearest shelf, and picked up the first book, letting it open in her hand; page 259. It was titled: "Bloody Hell!" The sub titles read : Makes drinker say bloody hell whenever the maker of the potion looks at them. Lasts 24 hours.

_Might want to keep that in mind_, Ginny thought, and flipped to the next page. "Bloody Valentine. Love potion to-"She flipped again. "Bloody massacre" _sick_. "Bloody Mary. Gives nightmares to whoever drinks the potion about their loved ones bleeding to death." _Ew, but maybe handy._ She turned to the next page; Blood. "blood red. Stains permanently." "Blood curdling screams"; basically the same as bloody hell. "Weaken your enemies, cut off certain blood circuits to their heart." _In other words, basically killing them._ "Blood rain" _uh… no thanks. _

In the next 10 minutes Ginny had learnt at least 20 spells and potions, somehow all related with "blood," and many, many names of potions. Revolted as she was about some of the ideas, she couldn't help loving this place. You could just say a couple words, and rows upon rows of bookshelves – 846 precisely – would kill up with books, all somehow related to the words you'd just spoken.

Ginny stuffed the book back on its shelf and hastily made for the stairs which has already closed. Sighing, she stopped to think and after a minute of sounding like a cow, she managed to pronounce the password correctly. She waited – patiently this time – for the stairs to form, hurried up them, retrieved her agenda and hurried back down them before they could close up.

"Okay..." She said, reading what was in her agenda in her head, and then out loud. Instantaneously books crammed themselves into their appropriate shelves. Ginny approached one, picked a thick and complicated looking book, and let it open on her palm before placing it on a desk, and starting to read; 20 minutes later she was rolling 5 pieces of parchment, and placing them carefully into her black shoulder book bag. She was almost certain to get and 'E' (excellent) for this. She knew Snape would never give a Gryffindor an 'O' (outstanding).

She had half a mind to stay and do the rest of her homework, but she figured that if someone came up to bed early, she'd have to wait until they (and everyone else) was fast asleep before being able to come back out again. She opened the stairs again, climbed up and collapsed onto her bed once more.

"What a day," she muttered. Thoughts swam through her head. Seeing Derek at breakfast, Malfoy not sneering at her, finally meeting Derek, fanta, Derek holding her hands, Hermione knowing, beating up Harry and Ron, and now _this_.

Not what you'd call a perfect day, but it was hardly what you'd call boring. A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts however.

"Ginny?" Came Hermione's calling her name softly. "Can I come in?"

"Why couldn't you?" Ginny asked her, surprised.

"I thought you were upset." She said, closing the door. "Especially when I saw what you did to Harry and Ron back there."

"Are they-"

"They're fine. Harry's lips stopped bleeding, but they're okay." "Harry and Ron I mean, not Harry's lips." She added quickly as she saw the look on Ginny's face. Ginny laughed.

"Herm? Can you keep a secret?"

"I'm you're best friend aren't I?"

Knowing that was a 'yes' Ginny climbed off the bad and tapped the floor with her wand.

"Ginny?"

"Homework and raspberries."

"Wha… ahhh! What's happening?"

Ginny didn't reply, and got on the bed next to Hermione.

"I found this place today." She indicated the room in which they had both just landed.

"What – what is it?" Hermione asked shakily.

"A library." Ginny grinned. "The biggest in the world."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"I hope you know what you're doing Ginny," Hermione said disapprovingly half an hour later. Ginny shifted un-comfortably in her red arm chair and watched the rain fall outside. She didn't want Hermione to lecture her. She thought Hermione would have been ecstatic, but instead she had regarded it as cheating. Ginny would never have thought that HERMIONE GRANGER of ALL people would have something against a giant magical library, but there you had it.

"I know what I'm doing." The rain fell harder against the window panes. The Quidditch match would surely not be cancelled tomorrow. She was glad that she wouldn't be playing. Hufflepuff versus Slytherin. She hoped Malfoy would get knocked off his broom. "I don't see why you're not happy about it though. I mean, yeah, you find what you're looking for really fast, but it's not like copying or anything."

"If you thing about it, it is actually." Hermione's voice was still stern. "And goddamit Ginny, could you at least LOOK at me when I'm talking to you? You're not mad at me are you?" Her voice softened down at the last part.

Ginny turned her head resolutely toward her anxious friend's face. "I'm not mad. YOU seem to be the one mad at me."

"I'm not mad. I'm just..." She struggled for words.

"Oh my god, you're kidding me."

"I'm NOT. I swear Ginny I'm not. Oh all right, fine, I am. There you have it. I'm jealous you found a giant magical library and I didn't. I slept in that room for 5 whole years and I didn't find it."

Ginny stuck her tong out at her best friend. "Ha! na na na na na na!" She sung in a baby-ish voice.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at this. "That's really baby-ish, you know?"

Ginny got up, choosing to ignore Hermione's last comment. "I'm in the mood for hot chocolate. Care to come down to the kitchens with me?"

Hermione shook her head. "Nah. I think I'll go help Harry and Ron with their essays. See you in a bit." Ginny shrugged.

"Whatever." She climbed out of the portrait hall and down a flight of stairs, turned right, then right again, took a short cut behind a statue of a witch with a wart on her nose, and back down a couple stairs. She was grateful for Fred and George. What wouldn't she have done without them? Probably get into less detentions, come to think of it.

She smiled, remembering the last time she'd seen them in the joke shop. They were doing great, racking in Galleons every day. Her mother was still disapproving, but even she couldn't help smiling at the new robes they'd bought her as a peace offering for causing so much trouble. Percy was still the same old git though. She wondered what made him come back.

Tickling the pear absently, she mused. Maybe he missed them? Nah. not possible. Percy didn't have feelings. The door swung open. She clambered through. Maybe he felt guilty that he'd abandoned them? Probably not. She smiled down at the house elves, and asked for Dobby. Maybe he was playing tricks on them. He'd want to re-break her mother and father's hearts?

But her thoughts stopped instantly as she spotted Dobby. Dobby and someone very familiar who she REALLY did NOT want to run into at the moment. Or at any moment.

"Mrs. Ginny Weasely!" Dobby squeaked, running up to her and bowing. "How are you Missis? Dobby is thinking of you very much. He is very thankful for the present you gave him!"

Ginny couldn't help smiling as he led her over to a table and asked her what she wanted to drink and if she were all right. Which happened to be the moment Malfoy spotted her.

His mysterious gray eyes - which were now looking surprised - made their way to her quickly. He looked nervous for a second, but then relaxed again. He slumped back into his chair and regarded her lazily. "Hello Weasely."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hello Weasely."

Ginny tried to keep her face compassionate, but failed, so she settled with disgusted.

"Malfoy." She said, nodding her head in his direction.

"Care to join me?"

Ginny almost choked. In fact, she was so surprised she didn't immediately reply with a snort and a "fuck off".

"Right." Malfoy drew up a stool in front of him with his wand.

Very reluctantly Ginny sat down, still looking like she'd rather be facing a mountain troll than drinking hot chocolate with Draco Malfoy.

"Okay, what's the deal Malfoy?" Ginny asked after about 3 minutes of him not criticizing her.

He looked up confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Why are you being so… creepy?"

"Polite equals creepy?" He asked rather icily, in Ginny's opinion.

"In your case, yes."

Now he looked slightly hurt. "Listen just because I'm not sneering down at you, it doesn't mean you have to jump to rather harsh conclusions."

"What are you trying to say Malfoy? You've finally learnt some manners?"

Now he looked mad. "No. I am trying to apologise for being so horrid. It's just… it's my dad. You don't know what it's like, being around him."

"No, I don't and thank God for that."

"He's not _always _horrid you know."

"Yeah? Somehow I find that very hard to believe."

"Can't you just accept that I'm trying to be nice here? That I don't _want_ to be my dad? That I hate him for who he is, and that ever since I was a little boy he counts on me following in his footsteps and being a death eater? Can't you realise that I don't want to be mean? That I _want_ to have normal friends? That I hate being stuck in Slytherin, and being looked down on by all the teachers excepting Snape, who my dad is very well acquainted with? That I-"

He stopped in mid-rant when he realised what he was saying. He looked at her disgustedly. "I wouldn't expect that_ you_ know what it feels like. You're just a wretched little girl. A cold hearted bitch.

And without another thought, he stood up and fled, not once looking at Ginny who was staring at him as if he had just grown another head.

-----

Ginny sat there in shock for a whole 3 minutes. All the house elves were staring at the door, from which he had just escaped.

Numbly, she reached for her hot chocolate and took a sip. Instantly she felt a little better.

She set her mug down. Her thoughts were too mixed to think about how Malfoy must feel. Still in shock she thanked Dobby and promised to visit him soon, dazedly walked back up to the Gryffindor common room, climbed the stairs to her dormitory, changed and got into bed. She managed to spare a couple seconds thought before rolling over, and falling into a deep sleep.

-----

The sleepy red head sat up resignedly, and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Checking the time, she was satisfied to see that she still had enough time to shower before dressing and making it down to the great hall for breakfast. She stumbled, still sleepily, into the bathroom, and brushed her hair before stepping into the shower.

Hermione had been amazed once that the showers heated up instantly. Apparently muggle showers were first cold, and then eventually got warm. And you had to turn knobs. _Poor muggles._ She thought. _It's so much easier just stepping in and once the doors are closed water spouts from all directions. _Hermione had loved taking showers in her first year, she'd confided in Ginny. Ginny had always thought Hermione was slightly mental, but then again, she'd never been introduced to muggle life, so she guessed she couldn't exactly fairly call her that.

10 minutes later Ginny was dressed, and stepping out of the portrait hole, and walking in the direction of the owelry. She'd been thinking about Malfoy, while under the shower, something she'd rather not experience again, and came to the conclusion that she should at least apologise to him. Much as she disliked him, she had been rather rude, and he had looked rather upset about something she was sure wasn't _entirely _her fault, but she still played a part in it.

She took out a piece of parchment and scribbled a note down hastily.

_Malfoy;_

_Sorry about yesterday if I offended you._

_Dobby says hello._

_- Weasely. _

She attached it to the nearest owl's leg, and watched it take off. Satisfied, she made her way down to the great hall, sat down across from Hermione, and helped herself to some sausages.

She looked up at the sky, which looked even stormier than the day before.

"Lovely weather isn't it?"

Hermione looked up at the ceiling. "Splendid. Let's hope Malfoy gets knocked off his broom."

Ginny grinned. "Lets."

"Oh, have I told you? Derek plays quidditch. Beater. Don't you think it would be the perfect solution for him to get knocked off his broom too, so you have an excuse to visit him in the hospital wing?"

"No! I mean, yeah okay I want an excuse to be near him, but I'd rather not see him hurt!"

"See who hurt?"

Harry asked, sidling up to the table and sitting down next to Ginny.

"No one." Ginny hastened to assure him. Luckily he wasn't able to peruse the question since the mail had arrived.

Ginny watched in surprise as a brown owl soared towards her, and dropped a package in her lap. Shortly after, another owl dropped a letter into her (now thankfully) empty plate.

She first opened the parcel. It was cylinder shaped, and felt rather cold. She wondered what it was. Ripping the paper, she looked down at it and smiled secretively. Fanta. She looked over at Derek who had been watching her and mouthed 'thank you.' He grinned at her. She felt butterflies in her stomach, and quickly turned to the envelope before she managed to throw up.

_Weasely,_

_Sorry for being a total ass hole jerk._

_- Malfoy._

Ginny gaped open mouthed at the note. Malfoy was apologising to her? _Malfoy? _As in Malfoy, _Draco _Malfoy?

This could not be happening. She crumpled the letter and stuffed it in her book bag. All of a sudden, she didn't feel so hungry any more. She picked up her bag, muttered something about forgetting something in the common room, and fled the hall.

_Well, it _**was** _her fault. _She mused, while trudging up a flight of stairs. _She _**had **_apologised to him before. So she couldn't blame it **all** on him. _

But still… Draco Malfoy apologising… It was nearly as scary as watching Derek being hit by a bludger and thrown off his broom, she decided, 20 minutes later.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

THE HOSPITAL WING.

"Uh… hi." Ginny said awkwardly, standing next to his bed, and going red.

He looked at her, surprised, and a smile spread across his face. "Hey. How are you?"

Ginny laughed, despite her nervousness. "I think the question here is how are _you?_"

He shrugged. "Hey, all I did was fall off a broom. You're the one who was running out of the great hall looking sick this morning. But I'm fine. Just got a broken arm. Madam Pompfrey says that it'll be better tomorrow though."

"Does it hurt?" Now she felt like punching herself.

"Nah, not really. It's much worse when you don't have magic to fix up your arm though. In the muggle world you have to wear this-" he motioned to his cast "for almost 2 months. And all your friends sign it. By the time it comes off you wish you still had it. Hey, I know, d'you want to sign it for me?"

"But… it's coming off tomorrow, isn't it?"

"It'd mean a lot to me if you did." Derek said, batting his eye lashes and looking at her with a mock pleading look.

Ginny grinned. "Fine then. Got a quill on you?"

He handed one over to her and she bent over him to sign her name inside a heart, with a smilie face next to it.

She rectified her position, and handed the quill back to him.

"Thanks." He said. "Hey, isn't it supposed to be dinner?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't hungry."

"Worried sick about me maybe?" He asked cheekily.

"Oh, but of _course!_ What did you think?"

He grinned up at her again. He did that a lot. He had very white teeth, all even.

"So _that's _why I only have one visitor! I was _wondering._ Pretty much a social whirlwind you know?"

Ginny looked heavenwards but smiled nonetheless.

"Uh, I got you these." She said, holding out a pack of bertie botts' every flavour beans. _Liar. You stole them from Fred. _"As thanks for the fanta."

He took them from her and her skin burnt where he touched her.

"Hey, thanks. But the fanta was no problem. I have a million. Refilling spell."

Ginny raised her eye brows. "Smart." She observed.

Which was when Madam Pomfrey started yelling. "OUT! OUT I SAY! YOU'LL SEE YOUR BOYFRIEND TOMORROW!"

Ginny turned scarlet. "He's not my boyfriend!" she exclaimed, not trusting herself to look at Derek she mumbled a 'goodbye', shot Madam Pomfrey a withering look and vanished through the door.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It was absolutely _mortifying._ The whole wing was staring at us and started whispering the moment I left." Ginny moaned, hiding her face in her hands as she often did when she was in the presence of her best friend, and needed to get all that frustration and embarrassment away.

"Aw, come on Gin. It can't have been that bad. What did Derek say?"

"I don't know," Ginny wailed "I was too embarrassed to look at him, I just fled."

Hermione patted her shoulder amiably, and smiled at her, shaking her head. "Oh Gin. What am I going to do with you? You're so hopelessly in love with him. Promise me you won't get yourself hurt."

Ginny looked up at her and smiled slightly. "I'll do my best."

Hermione shook her head. "That's not good enough!" And Ginny grinned properly this time.

"Oh, all right, I promise. There, happy?" And Hermione smiled, knowing that the worse was yet to come.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey! Thanks for reviewing if you did!_

_Um… I changed the last chapter because I thought it sucked. Sorry if you'd gotten your hopes up that there would be embarrassing scenes etc…Also… this chapter is kind of… R rated… Hermione isn't a slut I promise! But I mean, come on, she's a 17 year old girl on holiday with this total hottie of a boy friend, so gimme a break. And I didn't put in any extra detail, so don't yell at me!_

CHAPTER 6

MEMORIES

It took 2 months. Well, two months and 10 days, before Ginny's heart was shattered. Her name was Flora, and she was from Hufflepuff. She was also 17 years old, and extremely pretty, with silky black hair that fell to her butt, and beautiful green eyes. She was a seeker on the Quidditch team, and also extremely popular.

It was almost obvious that she and Derek were going to get together. But Ginny had clung onto that word. That dreadful word: _almost_. And now Hermione had to see her friend's heart being torn to pieces all over again, every time she ran into Derek who still always smiled at her, and hugged her goodbye. Derek, who still surprised her with chocolate frogs and Fanta from time to time.

She hated that look her friend always had in her eyes, that hopeful desperate look that followed him around everywhere. That broken smile, reserved only for him and those beautiful, delicate tears that streamed down her cheeks, when she heard the news that he had found somebody else. Someone other than her. Someone who didn't appreciate his gifts, scared that they would make her look fat, someone who didn't find his muggle devices fascinating, someone so unlike her. Someone she would never be; _could_ never be, even if she tried.

Hermione sighed. It was Friday, and Derek was downstairs, having dinner with his newly acquired _girlfriend_ Hermione already hated. Harry and Ron were at Quidditch practice, and Ginny was… where? Probably busy.

Hermione gazed sadly at her neatly made bedspread, and sighed. What to do? She could write to Travis. She missed him. He'd been so lovely in the summer holidays. Hermione gazed dreamily at the cream coloured sheets and imagined the feel of the sea breeze on her face.

They were laughing, and running down the beach, hand in hand, their bare feet sinking into the soft sand. The sun had set, and the moon was out. He tugged her along behind him urgently. "Come on!" He said, his magical deep voice sending tingling sensations down her back. They ran, hand in hand, before both collapsing in the still warm sand, exhausted.

"_Wouldn't it be amazing if we could just be like this forever?" He'd asked, wrapping his arms around her, while she laid her head on his chest, breathing deeply, and closing her eyes. _

"_Mmmm. I'll miss you."_

"_I'll miss you too." _

_They'd stayed silent for while, both savouring the last moments that they would be together. Until Christmas…_

"_You'll write, won't you?" He'd asked quietly._

_Hermione hadn't answered him right away, instead she'd looked up at him and stroked his cheek with the back of her hand. "Of course I will."_

_He'd looked back down at her, smiling sadly, and kissed her on the tip of her nose. They'd lain like that for a long while, both of them staring out at the sea, lost in thought, just being there, being together._

_At midnight, they'd had a picnic, and fed each other pieces of cookies and they'd melted marshmallows, with a miniature campfire Travis had set up. _

By the time they'd finished a pack of marshmallows, 5 cans of coke, a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, 3 bacardi breezers and assorted bonbons, they both were hyper on sugar and feeling extremely happy, and couldn't keep still.

"_What are you doing?" Travis had asked cheekily when Hermione had started undressing herself._

_She hadn't answered but started pulling off his clothes too. "Come on! We're going swimming!"_

_Which was how, 20 minutes later, Hermione and Travis had ended up both starkers, their underclothing laying forgotten at the bottom of the pacific ocean. _

_Hermione had never had a serious boyfriend before. There had been summer flings, and guys whom she'd snogged, but they always ended up breaking up after a week or so. But Travis was different. He wasn't just about shagging. He actually cared. _

_He'd stroked her hair, and told her she was beautiful, he'd token her to Paris, to visit the Eiffel tower, because the last time she'd been there she'd been sick, and not allowed to climb it. So was it really a crime that she'd lost her virginity to him?_

_She hadn't thought so. And neither had he. He'd respected her, he'd cared. _

_It had been painful the first time, but he'd been gentle, and Hermione had learned. By the time she'd come home at 5 o'clock in the morning, they'd done it 5 times, and they'd talked about it too. _

At first she'd been embarrassed, but then she'd gotten used to it. No one knew. Except for Ginny.

Where the hell WAS Ginny anyways?

_Review please! I know this chapter is extremely short, but I promise I'll update a long one next time. Chapter 7 WILL be updated on Monday the 17th of October!_


	7. Chapter 7

Where the hell WAS Ginny anyways?

In moaning myrtle's bathroom, brewing the most complicated potion she had ever brewed, with the most insufferable brat she knew, - who wasn't called Ron Weasely – Draco Malfoy.

How did she end up in this situation? Yeah? That's a long story. Better start explaining I guess.

It was midnight, and Ginny couldn't sleep for grief. She'd tossed and turned, and woken up Lavender on already two occasions by her snivelling, although she insisted she was fine, just had a cold, it was obvious she didn't believe her.

By the time Lavender had managed to fall asleep again, Ginny felt wide awake. There was nothing to do. Homework? She'd need the library for that. Read? Again, no, she'd read them all already a million times. I guess the only thing left to do that didn't seem extremely boring would be exploring the castle.

And with that idea in mind, she slipped out of the dormitory, down to the prefect-less common room, and out of the portrait of the fat lady, who seemed thoroughly irritated to be woken up at that hour, but let her pass anyway.

Where to go now? Ginny wondered. The room of requirement? But what do I need it for? After a minute of debating with herself weather she should just go back to bed and flip through the pages of witch weekly or go and wake Hermione up and sob some more, she decided the perfect solution would be the kitchens.

Nothing helps me more than a nice hot cup of cocoa, Charlie used to say. It was his magic recipe. Whenever Ginny felt down, she would knock on Charlie's door, and he'd always be there for her, whether he was sleeping or in the middle of studying for his O.WL.S, she always came first. She could talk to him about anything, and at any time, and for that, she felt eternally grateful.

He was the one who'd cure her head aches, and the one who stayed by her side and made sure she was okay when she had the flu. He was the one who let her sob onto his shoulder, and the one who she could always talk to. He was her motherly figure, only then he was her brother.

Ginny smiled as she descended the steps to the kitchens, her shadow casting spooky images on the cold stone walls. She missed Charlie.

Absentmindedly, she tickled the pear, and watched as it giggled, until she was clambering into the still lit kitchens. To her amazement, all the house elves were up, and – she rubbed here eyes forcefully – playing something that looked a lot like poker.

The minute the door sealed itself again, all the house elves turned to look at her, guilt written on their faces. Ginny looked at them. She couldn't have been more surprised if she'd found professor Snape in here wearing nothing but a bunny suit and dancing the Macarena. She stood there, aware that all the house elves were frozen in a horrified position, all looking at her terrified, as if she was a bomb that was just about to explode.

"Um…" she said, glancing around at the sea of elves, all of whom were holding playing cards, "hi. Is Dobby here?"

The house elves sprung to life again, making haste to clear up their cards quickly, and start mopping the already sparkling floor.

"No! No, don't stop playing whatever you are playing on my account! It's my fault! I didn't mean to barge in on you!"

The house elves all bowed low, looking flustered, and quickly pulled the playing cards out again.

"What are you guys doing anyways?" She asked Dobby quietly, so that only he could hear.

"We was just playing poker miss! We was finding it difficult to decide what to make for breakfast since it is not a feast tomorrow, and we couldn't decide miss. Dobby is very sorry for –"

"Could I join in?"

Dobby ogled up at her. "Miss… misses would like to… would like to play poker too?"

Ginny smiled down at him. "Yeah. Yeah, I want to play poker. But one thing first, could I have some hot cocoa please?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours later Ginny was stumbling back through the halls, extremely happy and confident, and also slightly drunk. She had gotten the hang of poker straight away, and soon after she was beating every body, occasionally letting the odd house elf win.

Not bothering to be quiet, she trampled up the stairs in a drunken stupor. She felt as if she could just go on forever, everything seemed 10 times nicer than usual. Especially moaning myrtle's bathroom and the light coming from it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ginny giggled and pushed open the door, saw Malfoy looking at her with a terrified look on his face, and promptly burst out laughing.

"What… what are you doing here? This is a girl's bathroom!"

She seemed to find this immensely funny and burst out laughing again, gasping for breath. "You… you…" she pointed at him. "Malfoy is a travestite! No… he's a child molester that's it! NO! No… what's the word? He's a herma… well, he's funny anyway," she mumbled to herself, and once again started into peels of laughter.

By that time, Malfoy must noticed she was pretty drunk. Ginny Weasely was usually a very serious person, and in this situation, she would most likely taunt him or enquire him, than call him a child rapist etc…

"Ginny. Ginny shut it before filch gets here!"

"Ginny!" Ginny yelled at him, catching him off guard. "When did I ever give you premonition to call me Ginny!

"Permission. Never. Now shut it Weasely before –"too late.

Filch was standing in the doorway, looking murderous.

"tryin' to wake the whole bloody castle up are we?"

Ginny seemed to find this funnier than ever, startling Filch, who quickly recovered, a malicious glint in his eye.

"A weeks worth of detention for both Weasely and Malfoy!" He barked. "And, oh, if only Dumbledore would let me use the shackles..."

"Oh shut up you bloody git. The only reason you gave us detention was so you could shag McGonagall while she is supposedly watching over us."

Draco froze, and shut his eyes tight, waiting for the blow. But none ever came. He opened one of his eyes tentatively, to see Filch frozen on the spot too, staring at Ginny horrified.

"D-d-don't tell an-ny one!" Filch pleaded, staring around wildly, looking positively petrified that someone might overhear them. "P-please! I won't give y-you detention!" He was looking from Ginny to Draco and back again.

Draco could tell that Ginny was trying very hard not to laugh, and he was very surprised when she managed to keep a straight face, look the pleading caretaker directly in the eye, and tell him to "please fuck off, and I wont tell anyone as long as you do as I please whenever I ask you to."

Filch sunk into a bow so deep he looked hunch backed and scuttled out of the door so hurriedly he reminded Draco forcefully of Dobby, their former house elf.

He turned to look at Ginny, who was now swaying on the spot looking sick. He took a tentative step towards her, surprised when she didn't object, only a second later to have her throw up all over his shoes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_No freakin way._ It was the only thing he could think of was he stared at the unconscious Ginny on the floor, the vomit all over his new shoes, the door in which Argus Filch had entered, only to leave terrified thanks to a student of accusing him of having an affair with his transfiguration teacher, and the strong smell of rum that was coming from the youngest Weasely member. _No freakin way._

Okay, I'm really sorry that things had to turn out this way. Hopefully I will find a way to get everything back to normal. And I know this was a crap and short chapter, but blame my parents who dragged me away to this place that's like 20 minute drive away from Belgium during the weekend. Next Chapter WILL be at least 7 word pages, I SWEAR. spits between two fingers _shit! I actually** did**__spit. Gross…_


	8. Chapter 8

_CHAPTER 8_

_LOVE HATE, HATE LOVE… OR NOT?_

_Where am I?_ Was the first thought that flashed through Ginny Weasely's mind when she opened her eyes and sat up wearily the next day. The next thought was "don't sit up. Sitting up is bad," as a wave of pain flooded her head. She closed her eyes again, trying to block out the morning - or was it afternoon? - light that was steaming through the dark green velvet curtains.

Hold on. There was something wrong with that image. She opened her eyes again. Blinding light, accessing the room through the opening in the window made by the - dark green velvet curtains. Dark green. Dark. Green. _Green_. Uh oh.

She sat up quickly, and then immediately regretted her actions as a wave of red hot pain shot through her head. She groaned and flopped back down on the bed. Wherever she was, it would have to wait. At least until the pain was over.

"Drink this," someone was saying, putting down a steaming mug on the bed side table.

Ginny opened her eyes again wearily, looking up at the person standing over her and dove back under the covers, brining the sheets up over her face. Oh no. This had better be a dream. This wasn't real. No way. It _couldn't _be real.

She pulled the covers down, so that she could see and squeaked, and tried once again to hide under the covers.

"Just drink the bleeding potion, it helps, believe me." The person was saying to her hidden form.

Very slowly, as if she was a mouse, Ginny extracted herself from beneath the covers and sat up in the bed, looking up at the person who was now sitting on a couch on the other side of the room.

"Wh-Where am I...?" She tried to say, but the pounding in her head grew too intense for her to speak.

"Just drink it and then I'll explain," Malfoy was saying wearily.

Ginny nodded, and hesitantly took a sip op whatever it was in the mug. Instantly she felt a little better. She gulped the hot liquid down as quickly as she could - it was probably the grossest thing she'd ever tasted - and set the mug back down again, screwing up her face.

"It wouldn't harm to add flavourings to these things," she mumbled, and she was surprised to see Malfoy smile at her words.

"Disgusting isn't it?"

"No," she said sarcastically "I loved it actually. Delicious."

Malfoy rolled his eyes heavenwards. "D'you want to know what you are doing here or not?" He asked testily.

Ginny shut up, but glared at him. "Not particularly."

He gave her a small smile, which she did not return. "All right. Basically what happened last night - as far as I know, is that you found me in moaning myrtle's bathroom, you were drunk and started laughing your head off, accused me of being a child rapist slash molester, then Filch came in, threatened to give us detention which you stopped him from doing by accusing him of shagging McGonagall, then you threw up all over my shoes, and fainted, and you wouldn't wake up so I had to carry you all the way to the bloody Slytherin Chambers and give you MY bed because you kept falling off the couch."

Ginny stared at him; horror stuck, and then broke down laughing. "You can't be serious." But when she saw he wasn't laughing or showing any sign of amusement she stopped suddenly. "Oh God. You're not joking are you?"

Malfoy shook his head. "Jesus... who found out?" She looked panic stricken.

Under the normal circumstances Draco would have loved to taunt her, but since she was looking so desperate, he decided to give her a break. "Er... no one. At least, not that I know of."

Ginny ogled at him. "Are you being serious?"

"Dead."

"Whoa." Ginny didn't know what to say. This was so unlike him. The Malfoy _she_ knew would never have put up with that. He would have probably stripped her off all her clothes and chained her up in the entrance hall. But here she was, in his _bed_, safe and sound, and no one except themselves knew.

After all those years of hating each other, tormenting each other, yelling fighting cursing each other... why hadn't he left her behind? "But..." She didn't want to voice the thought, afraid of the answer.

Malfoy froze in the doorway, and turned around to look at her. "Yes?" He said in a way, as if going 'I'm waiting?'

"Why? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Malfoy looked at her bored. "What do you think people would have thought if I told then I just _happened _to find you in a bathroom that is supposed to be off limits, not to mention a _girl's_ bathroom in the dead of night?"

Ginny went red. "Good po - Nothing actually _did_ happen right?"

Malfoy looked at her disgustedly from where he was leaning against the door frame. "Do you _honestly_ think I would screw _you_ Weasely?"

Ginny looked back down at the covers. "Right."

He turned to leave again. "Wait a minute..."

He turned back impatiently. "Now what?"

"Why?"

"We've just been over this Weasely."

"No. That's not what I meant. I mean, why did you bring me up here? Why didn't you just leave me in the bathroom? Why did you care that I kept falling off your couch that you gave me your bed? Why did you bother getting me that potion for my horrible hang over?"

"Don't flatter yourself Weasely. You don't honestly think I care do you?"

Ginny managed a small smile. "One would almost thing so much."

"Yeah?" Malfoy snarled. "Well then one isn't smart enough." He sighed. "All right, here's the deal." He came back into the room, and set the mug down on the coffee table. "I've got a proposition to make."

Ginny's lips curved upwards. "No thanks. I've already found my future husband."

Malfoy regarded her as if he thought her pathetic. "You don't blab about finding me in the bathroom, and I won't tell anyone about this," he said, gesturing at the bed. "Okay?"

Ginny considered the offer for a minute. "First I want to know what you were doing in that bathroom."

"If you tell me what got you so upset to get that drunk."

"All right."

Malfoy's eyes widened. He hadn't expected her to say yes.

"If you must know I couldn't sleep because Derek has a new girlfriend who is a total bitch and will so break his heart, so I went down to the kitchens and all the elves were playing poker and drinking tequila, because you know, elves don't get drunk as easily 'cause they're not really human are they? And then next think I know, I wake up here." She smiled at him sweetly, something which didn't fool him. "Your turn."

"All right... If you must know I was visiting Myrtle because I promised her to. She helped me out of a tight fix last year."

Ginny took one look at him, and she her face showed disappointment. For a minute, Malfoy thought he'd fooled her, and felt immensely proud, but the next he felt deflated. "Liar. The truth now please."

"Oh all _right_. If you _must_ know, I was hiding."

"From who? Come on Malfoy. Just tell me the truth. I was honest, now you've got to be."

"But I am!" He insisted stubbornly.

"No you're not. Your ears go pink when you lie."

Ginny grinned as she watched Malfoy splutter indignantly. "They do _not_!"

Ginny shrugged. "Okay, so they don't. But I can tell you're lying. What were you really doing?"

"FINE!" He yelled, frustrated and dejected. "I was brewing Felix Flexis. But I'm not telling you what for."

Ginny noticed he went slightly pink as he said that.

"Thank you," She said. "For being honest."

He gave her a small smile.

"I want to help."

He looked up sharply. "What? No!"

Ginny glared at him. "I got us out of a week worth of detention, and if I _really_ want to I can tell everybody you tried to do... stuff... to me. After all I _was_ drunk and then I suddenly wake up in your bed. Who are people most likely to believe?"

"Do you really think people will believe that house elves were playing poker?" Malfoy shot back angrily.

"They can always ask Dobby. I'm sure he wouldn't mind doing me a favour. Plus, Filch found us both in the bathroom."

Malfoy sent her a withering look before giving in. "Oh all _right_."

Ginny smiled sweetly. "Thank you," she said primly. "Now... mind if I use your bathroom?"

MXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXMXM

"Malfoy!" Ginny called through the locked bathroom door. "Where the hell do you keep your towels?"

Draco sighed and called back "second cupboard to the right."

It was Saturday. Normally he would have a lie in, and go down to breakfast with Zabini. After that, maybe they'd go into hogsmead or play quidditch. Then probably homework, and be lazy, and if they got really bored torment first years... but no. _Hell_ no. Of course _she_ had to come along and ruin his plans.

He hadn't gotten much sleep on the sofa for one, and then he'd been deprived of breakfast because if she woke up, she might panic and curse everything he might hold precious. Skipping breakfast hadn't been too much of a problem though, considering the fact that ex-prefects had to right to call up house elves; and so, he'd still had a leisurely breakfast of croissants and chocolate éclairs. Not that he liked French food, but it seemed like the kind of breakfast Ginny would like.

He looked up as the lock scraped back, and Ginny emerged from the bathroom door wearing her clothes from yesterday, her hair still a bit damp from the shower, and gleaming in the light that was coming in through the closed windows.

"What?"

Malfoy quickly shut his mouth. "Nothing... you hungry? I got croissants."

Ginny looked at him strangely. "You got what?"

"Croissants."

"What the hell are croissants?"

Malfoy hadn't expected this answer. But then again, she probably had never been on holiday in France. "Croissants. You know. They're like... French sort of crescent shaped rolls."

"Oh. Like Fanta?" She asked eagerly.

"What's Fanta?"

"The most amazing drink in the world. Muggle drink."

"Better than tequila?"

Ginny glared daggers at him, and ignored his last remark.

Draco couldn't help but smirk as he saw the death-glare on her face. It suited her well. He'd almost have been afraid if he hadn't known that she didn't have her wand. Not that he was entirely sure she didn't have it, but the fact that she hadn't cursed him yet would be quite a good guess.

He held out the plate to her, and she stared at him.

"Wait a minute. You got these for... ME?"

"You flatter yourself too much Weasely. I just don't want you fainting here otherwise I'll be in deep shit."

Ginny shot him another one of those looks. The ones where you couldn't tell if it was amusement or disgust. Taking the plate out of his hands with a very quiet and forced 'thank you' she picked up a croissant gently tore off a piece with her index finger and her thumb and popped it into her mouth.

Her eyes widened in shock. "Why haven't I ever had these before?"

Draco almost said something along the lines of "because you're not high class enough for this type of food" but held it back just in time. Instead, he shrugged and smiled slightly as she finished the rest.

"There have got to be 500 calories in that," Ginny stated as she swallowed the last bite of croissant.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows. Typical girl behaviour. Not that she needed loosing weight. In fact, she was quite perfect the way she was already. Her long curly red hair falling down to her perfectly shaped butt. Her lips that were almost the same colour as it - her hair, not her butt - and looking so extremely inviting... _ah! No. he wasn't thinking these thoughts. Especially not about Ginny Weasely._

"No actually, its 200."

The look she gave him matched the one he had given her about two seconds ago.

"And how come you know that?"

Draco shrugged. Ginny couldn't help noticing that as he did so, his hair that was usually slicked back, was now hanging in front of his face. It made him look extremely cute. Not to mention the fact that it was a little messy, and he looked extremely irresistible in his kaki turtle neck sweater that seemed to blend in perfectly with the while undershirt he was wearing under, and the usual black pants that were part of the school uniform.

"My mom. She used to be anorexic."

Ginny was awoken from her lovely little day dream that should actually have been about Derek, and gaped at him.

"Oh. Shit. That sucks. Sorry. Is she better now?"

Draco shrugged again, and Ginny had the sudden urge to push his hair back out of his eyes, just to see what it felt like. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, she's eating again. Not as much, but it's a definite improvement."

And awkward silence fell, and Ginny could feel his eyes on her. _Is he checking me out?_ Ginny wondered. _Ewwww! I hope not. Gross... what if what Hermione said was true?... oh no... Wait. This is Malfoy. As in Draco Malfoy! Get a grip Ginny, if he IS checking you out, you have all rights to check him back out.._

Ginny lifted her head to look back at him, and felt herself getting lost in his amazing piercing blue eyes. _God, he was gorgeous_.

"Ha! I win!" Malfoy yelled triumphantly, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"You _blinked_. So I win."

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "That's not fair. I didn't know we were playing."

"Oh yeah? Why were you staring at me then? Checking me out?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Ginny looked at him as if he were something foul. "In your dreams Malfoy. Might I say you were staring at me first?"

He chose to ignore her last comment, and Ginny had a fleeting suspicion that he _might_ actually have been checking her out.

"Fine fine, new game. Start at three. One... two... three."

Ginny opened her eyes that had been shut tight and felt herself floating away again. And as she looked into his eyes, she felt a burning sensation in the pit of her stomach. Her skin was tingling quite pleasantly and she knew that if she didn't look away quickly, she'd en up doing something she would later regret.

_Just keep staring Ginny. You won't let him win. Never. This is Draco Malfoy, the person you hate the most in the entire world. You hate him, you _despise_ him. Stare back Ginny. Go on, you can do it. Just keep staring..._

In the mean time, Draco's head was reeling with thoughts too.

_God she's beautiful. Her perfect blue eyes... her lovely hair... If only I could reach out and touch it... Jesus why did she have to be so goddamned gorgeous? Fuck. What is _wrong_ with you man? This is Ginny Weasely. Ginny freakin Weasely. You better get pull yourself together or else you will end up bogey hexed..._

_You can do it Ginny, ignore the itching... ignore it... ignore it..._.

A tear fell down Ginny's cheek, and before she knew what was happening, Malfoy had blinked, leaned forward and wiped the tear off her face.

"You win."

_Ginny looked at him, stunned. Did he really just do that? Did he really just brush that tear off her face?_ Judging by his rather pale pink cheeks, he had, and Ginny couldn't help grinning, although Malfoy thought it was for a completely different reason.

_Maybe he wasn't that bad after all... yeah right, you wish._.

Ginny stopped smiling as reality struck her. She suddenly stood up, and glanced at her watch, that was reading 11:30am. "I have to get out of here before anyone notices I'm gone. Anyone _else_ I mean."

Draco nodded and stood up. "Here. I'll lend you this," he said, getting out a very battered looking invisibility cloak, "just follow me."

Ginny took the cape from him wordlessly, giving him a small smile, then slipped it on, and said "okay... ready."

She followed Draco down a flight of stairs, and waited nervously as he made small talk with Zabini, occasionally having to dodge people who were coming her way. After 5 minutes of waiting, she grew impatient and poked Draco in the shoulder, reminding him she was still there. She might be invisible, but she was still _solid._

Draco grinned at Zabini, and Ginny caught something along the lines of "library," before he disappeared through a sliding wall.

"Better keep that on until we're in the grand hall," he said, as she started taking off his cloak. "People will get suspicious and I most certainly don't want to be seen with you."

_However, you did just lean over and brush my cheek_. Ginny thought irritated, but stayed silent, as she saw someone approaching. She followed Malfoy up flights of stairs and through a couple secret passage ways, before they stopped in just behind a tapestry.

Malfoy stopped abruptly, and Ginny almost ran into him. "Sorry," she whispered.

He chose to ignore her, and instead muttered "go down the end of this passage and turn left, through the tapestry, you'll be in the entrance hall, okay?"

Ginny took off his cloak and nodded. He turned to leave.

"Hey, Malfoy?"

"What?"

"Thanks."

He gave her a small smile. "Any time Weasely. You owe me one by the way. See you on Thursday at 11, moaning myrtle's bathroom," and he turned and left, leaving Ginny to make the trip up to Gryffindor tower alone.

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**A/N: so I promised you 7 pages, well, its 8! D so be happy P**

**Felton118 love your fanfic name P Tom Felton rocks. Thanks for the compliments )**

**SacredMidnightGem Well… the chaps are going to be longer now! If I get good reviews ;)**

**Meike Gracias. I appreciated that. Snape in a bunny suit playing stip poker. Maybe I'll get him to do that sometime in this story ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

When Ginny went down to lunch at 12:30, she was surprised to see Hermione Harry and Ron there, and she was even more surprised when she slid into a seat next to Harry and he asked her to come to the Halloween dance without a hello before.

"Um. Hello to you too Harry. I thought you were going to go with Hermione."

Harry shook his head, ignoring the open mouthed expressions on his friends' faces. "Ron beat me to that," he said, trying not to flinch as Ron kicked him under the table in embarrassment.

"Yeah, well I didn't want to end up going with Padma again, did I?"

Ginny raised her eyebrows at this newly acquisitioned information. "I thought you were going to go with Travis?" She asked Hermione rather scandalised.

"Oh, I am." Hermione reassured her. "Which is why I had to turn Ron down."

Just then three shadows fell over their table. "Don't tell me you asked a mudblood to come to the dance Weasely. Out of all the other poor people you know, you had to go pick a mudblood?"

Draco laughed, and Crabbe and Goyle guffawed loudly behind him.

Hermione turned, and to everyone's surprise, smiled at Malfoy. "Oh, no. You see, he is actually formally going with Raven - you DO know raven don't you? - except she just owled him yesterday, telling him she was going with him, and I was a little "back up" plan for if she declined. Although I already have a date, but that's not the point."

Everyone, - including Malfoy - seemed taken aback by this little piece of information.

Ginny smiled at him. "Care to join us and discuss your lovely plans for the dance, or would you rather clear off and leave us alone?"

He barely glanced at her, but when he did, it was a piercing stare, that made Ginny want to look away although she did not.

He snarled in response "looking forward to seeing you in a purple dress again Weasely" and he departed.

When he was well out of earshot Ginny said "you're not actually going with Raven are you?"

Instead of answering Ron just stared at Hermione. "What did you have to go and do THAT for?"

"Because," Hermione said rolling her eyes "It made him go away didn't it? Or would you rather have him back here tossing random insults at you? And don't worry about Raven" Hermione said when she saw him open his mouth "I over heard her telling Fanny that she has a crush on you when I was queuing up for ancient ruins."

"Oh," was Ron's response to this rather startling piece of information. "Are you sure?"

"Of course she's sure. She looks like Hermione to you doesn't she?" Ginny asked, mimicking Hermione and raising her eyes to the ceiling. "And by the way," she said, turning her attention back to Harry "It would be a pleasure to be your escortee."

"Escortee?" Harry echoed.

"Yes."

"Ginny-"

"As in dumpee? When you dump someone you are the dumper, they are the dumpee? Someone asks you to the dance, you are the escortee."

"If you say so."

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"You're sure he is coming? He promised you right? Because it would totally suck if -"

"Ginny," Hermione laughed "He IS coming I assure you. You have my word, and I have his."

"Well, good. Because if I don't meet him soon I might start thinking you made him up."

Hermione rolled her eyes and contemplated herself in the full length mirror lining the wall opposite her. "That would be childish. What do you think?"

"Whitish gold, otherwise..."

"I was thinking something along the lines of black actually..."

Ginny's eyes formed into slits. "No, that's not fair. I'm wearing black. I think you should wear red. Off shoulder that falls to your ankles, with a slit up to your mid-thigh, or one that stops right above your knees and with a square cut neckline. No, one with straps and it starts right by your bust."

"Oh. Right. Okay. And you should wear a tight black leather one. No way Gin."

"Aw, come one Hermione! It would look great on you."

Hermione wrinkled her nose "not my mental image."

"I know. We'll go into hogsmead tomorrow and we will see what fits you best. I promise you won't be able to pick the best one."

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"The first one."

"I agree with Derek. The other one makes you look a bit slutty."

Hermione splayed with the silky red material. "You're sure?"

When both her friends nodded she had to admit that she did look rather stunning.

"Okay, my go," Ginny said, clapping her hands and standing up to leave for Hermione's dormitory. When she came down, his breath caught him in his throat.

"You look amazing," Derek said hoarsely, something Ginny noticed immediately. She smiled and twirled, her dress followed after her.

It was long, like Hermione's and it had silver beads embroided in the black material along the contours. The bottom part had frills in it, and had she worn a Tiara would she have been mistaken for a princess at a funeral.

"Ginny, you look amazing," Her friend appraised her.

Ginny blushed. She had never felt more beautiful.

"Let's see the second one," Derek said, and even he couldn't mistake the roughness in his voice for a bad case of throat ache.

Ginny smiled, disappeared for a minute, and Derek was sure that even if he was Draco Malfoy he would have gaped, despite the fact that she was a Gryffindor.

"Waaaaaaah."

Hermione raised his eyebrows at him.

"I mean wow."

Ginny laughed. "What do you think?"

She was wearing another black dress that was tied tight around her waist, and then was allowed to flow freely until it reached the floor. The sleeves hung down from the elbow, growing steadily wider until the wrist, making her look gothic-ish, but in a good way. It was off-shoulder and it was the most amazing thing Ginny had ever worn, or ever seen someone wear. She found it a scandal that she had found it in a second hand shop, even though it had been rather shabby at the time, and she and Hermione had had to research an "as good as new" spell to make it as glamorous as it was now.

"You look..." Derek struggled to find words. "Pretty fucking fabulous." He grinned. "Sorry for the swearwords."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Pea brain! I'm not 9 any more."

Hermione frowned at their childishness, but said nothing, mentally preparing herself for the excited speech about how "he told her she was gorgeous! Literally!"

Except it never came. Instead Ginny just smiled all the way through their "girls' night" - although she had to stop when the face masks started to solidify - and shared Hermione's enthusiasm about Travis coming in a week, and planning on how to do their hair and nails, and hoping their dates would be wearing matching outfits.

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"So what are you doing tonight Gin? Great! You can help me with my transfiguration essay seeing as how all of your homework is done." Ron said, taking her quarter of a second thought for granted.

She ignored him however, and went on sketching the half done unicorn with extreme care.

"Oi, earth to Ginny! When were the goblin rebellions -"

"Ron, if you don't shut up, you are risking me not helping you."

He fell silent immediately, but still looking at her expectantly.

"One, I am busy tonight. Two, you never help me, why should I help you-" she ignored his indignant splutter, although she noticed Harry's smile "and three they started in 1567."

Ron nodded his head once as thanks and bent over his essay again, leaving Ginny to her artwork. Ginny sighed, and trapped the now finished unicorn with her finger - it was running away from her eraser - and started re-drawing its tail. She watched in amusement as it turned circles, appraising its new tail and then gambered off, out of the picture.

She flicked through her brain, and then started drawing very small fairies all over the page. They all hovered around watching instead of leaving at top speed like the unicorn did.

By the time Ginny had added a couple trees and a path lines with lanterns, there were only two people left in the common room. Standing up, she crossed over to the portrait hall and left, ignoring her twin brother's cat calls that she had a secret date.

_Although she did kind of have a secret date_, she thought, as she descended the spiral stair case and quickly hid behind a tapestry as a ghost floated by. _It just wasn't the type of date they thought._ She walked across the entrance hall at top speed, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible, always sticking to the side which held the most shadow, seeing as how she would blend in perfectly if an extremely tired Filch walked past.

Although somehow she had the feeling Filch would leave her alone if she promised not to spill his secret crush on her transfiguration teacher. She sniggered slightly, and turned left, down more stairs, and walked right though a painting of a sleeping centaur, just in time to see Malfoy magically locking the door.

"Malfoy!" She hissed at the door. When it didn't open she pulled out her wand too. "Aloha-" she said, remembering to "flick and swish" as Hermione had told her so many times in her first year. Malfoy opened the door. Ginny had just enough the time to think _shit_ as she said the last part of the spell "mora."


	10. Chapter 10

"Mora."

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Draco waited with baited breath, for something to happen. He wasn't scared, and his eyes weren't screwed up like Ginny's, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't completely confident that nothing horrible would happen either. His thoughts seemed to be stuck on wondering if Ginny would drag _him_ up to Gryffindor tower risking her reputation if he fainted or got too sick to walk.

_Probably not_, he thought bitterly. _Although, she didn't have a rather dangerous secret which could have her expelled and in Azkaban for two years holding her back either. _

Ginny in the mean time, was slowly opening her eyes, and looking at him cautiously. "Are you… are you okay?"

He just remained silent and opened the door wider, nodding his head, gesturing for her to come inside.

She didn't pursue her question however, and he felt slightly put off at that. She could have at least shown a bit _more_ or at least _some_ worry about him. But then realisation struck him, and he knew that this way was best. Slytherins and Gryffindors did not inter act, or act remotely polite or friendly toward each other. It was just like a rule of nature. It could not be changed, and it would not be.

The red haired girl was watching him in the mean time, as if questioningly.

"What?" He snarled at her as she did not look away.

"What can I do to help? Where do we start?"

He glared at her, and she glared back, the venom in her face clear and obvious.

"Look," he said, still glaring at her. "If you are really going to help with this, there will have to be guidelines." When Ginny nodded, he pursued "One, everything will be going _my _way."

"Unless your way is wrong and I come up with a better idea," Ginny interrupted him.

"Which you won't. Two,"

"Minimal physical contact."

Malfoy glowered at her even more, but his silence showed his agreement.

"Three, when I tell you to shut up, I expect you to shut up. This potion is extremely difficult to brew, and needs a lot of attention and devotion, and if we mess up once, it will fuck up."

"And four, we take turns in bringing stuff."

Draco glanced in her direction again. "_Stuff? _What are you talking about, _stuff_?"

Ginny sighed. "Stuff that might come in useful. Books, pamphlets, anything with handy information. And coffee," she added, pulling a large thermos can out of her book bag, and summoning two chipped and faded Mickey Mouse mugs.

She poured herself a steaming mug, and took a gulp. Then she noticed Draco looking at her in disbelief and set her mug down on a nearby sink.

"Oh, right, sorry. D'you want some?"

Draco accepted a cup numbly and nearly scored his throat. He chocked and Ginny laughed. "Sorry, my own recipe, its extra strong, overloaded with caffeine."

Draco nodded through watering eyes. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

"Okay, let's get to work. List of ingredients..."

"What, you haven't started yet?"

Draco glared at her yet again. "No, the book says the water has to boil for a month before being able to add any ingredients, so we have three days to manage to steal powdered unicorn hoof from Snape's private stores. I've already got the lighting beetle shells and the sphinx hair from its mane. The shells go in first, but we only add that in three days, at the moment we have to plan getting the remaining ingredients."

Ginny nodded, reading the list over his shoulder. "Dragons blood… I doubt Snape owns that. Fairy wings... pixy dust… these are all classified B ingredients."

Draco nodded. "Yeah, I know. But I still have 2 months to find a contact, so I guess that's not the most pressing matter. I suppose we could use my invisibility cloak to get into Snapes stores."

"Excuse me?" Ginny said, spluttering. "I am _not_ sharing an invisibility cloak with _you_. What happened to the minimal physical contact rule?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Look, it's not like we have another choice."

"Yes there is. One of us takes the cloak – preferably me – and the other walks behind, the one with the cloak checking if the coast is clear."

Draco snorted. "If anyone gets the cloak its me. Any other options?"

"Or I could get Fred and George to lend me theirs. Possibly I'd have to steal it because I don't think I'd be able to support any more taunts about me "sneaking off to snog my boyfriend."

Draco chocked once more, his face edging on skin colour. "You told your brothers what?"

Ginny tutted impatiently, and explained, as if talking to the very dim, "No, of course I didn't tell them _that_. They saw me leave the common room, and obviously since they have no common sense, thought I went off to meet someone, and it doesn't seem very likely that I am going to meet my best friend from another house or something, does it, so it leaves no other option unless I like spending my Saturday afternoons in Snapes dungeons serving detention."

Draco looked at her blankly, his facial expression had remained the same stony look he always wore, although she could tell he was tired, and his disgusting smirk was gone. From this close up, he was actually quite good looking, if he got himself a tan and stopped fixing his hair back with deliberate amounts of magical-ever lasting effect gel.

Ginny wondered if he went to a manicure salon, because his nails, who were now un-doing the latch to his school bag, seemed to be as healthy and as even as hers. His hands also seemed to be made of wax, and Ginny had the suspicion that he carried moisturiser around with him. It didn't seem as if there was anything not perfect about him. She doubted he even had any split hairs.

"Be back here at 3am, on Saturday and with an invisibility cloak, unless you know how to dilluse yourself." He handed her a parcel which she accepted from him numbly, before brushing past her and out the door.

It took Ginny about half a minute to finally comprehend what he had said, and when she did, she let out a splutter of rage. _Three in the morning? Three in the bloody morning? He was going to pay._

Stuffing the parcel in her robes without opening it – she would open it in her dormitory, it would be far too risky to open it here because there was always the odd risk that Filch or Snape might catch you – she opened the door a creak and stepped out the bathroom.

She turned right into a passage she knew Derek used to get to his head boy headquarters, as if hoping she might see him. She was sadly mistaken however, when instead of running into Derek, she collided with Malfoy once more.

"For God's sakes Malfoy, you almost gave me a heart attack."

He looked down at her in amusement "am I really that handsome?"

Ginny didn't go red, but contented herself with another glare, and started to walk off again. "I saw you watching me in the bathroom," and Ginny choked.

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

Now it was Malfoy's turn to be embarrassed. "I meant moaning myrtles bathroom."

Ginny let out a snort. "If you must know, my thoughts were about if you carried moisturiser around with you and if you went to a manicure salon."

Draco was still hurrying to stay in pace with her long strides. "You _what? _Why?"

Ginny stopped and frowned, then held out her hand. When he didn't get it, she grabbed his hand, and held it out for him. "See, look." She said, trailing her finger over her hand. "No bumps. No dry skin. No nothing."

Malfoy looked at her slowly. "Yeah… so?"

"Herbology. You need strong hands for that. Care of magical creatures, same. Quidditch, splinters and dry or irritated skin. Don't tell me your skin is immune to that."

Draco shrugged. "Maybe it is."

Ginny looked at him, then gave up and sighed. "Never mind. If you don't feel like sharing your skin care secrets with me, I'm fine with that."

She didn't leave however, but instead, leaned against a wall and crossed her arms, and watched as he copied her.

She smiled slightly, and he smiled back. "You're nicer when you're not around the Slytherins," she said quietly, and his smile grew slightly.

"You're okay when you're not in a hateful mood."

Ginny raised her eyebrows and laughed a little. "Hateful mood… I'll remember that."

They stayed leaning against the wall, watching each other for a while, before they heard Snape's rasping voice, as he and Filch passed by the corridor.

"You can't keep it quiet for long Argus, Dumbledore already knows." Draco and Ginny froze, staring at each other in horror.

"I know Severus, but what am I supposed to do? I can't stay here, and you know that."

Ginny started forward, creeping down the corridor, to the sound of the diminishing voices.

"Flee! For God's sake! Minerva will help you, she knows parts of the truth, explain the rest to her-"

Ginny heard Filch moan and she thought he had buried his face in his hands because his voice came out muffled. "I can't tell her! She'll kill me, or at least hate me for the rest of my life."

"How can that matter to you at a time like this, Argus? Minerva will help you, if she really is the person I have learnt to know and trust."

Ginny looked back over her shoulder and saw Malfoy still in the same spot, not moving and watching her, but he didn't look as relaxed as he did about two minutes ago.

"Come on!" She mouthed at him, gesturing with her hand for him to follow her.

He looked rather shocked that she was asking him to creep around the castle with her, but then again, she probably thought he would try to make it all seem like her fault if they got caught.

Slowly, they crept around the corner cautiously, and Draco was alarmed to see that they were tracing Snape's and Filch's previous footsteps. Maybe _she_ was interested in the caretaker's love life, but _he_ most certainly wasn't.

"Weasely, what the hell are you doing?" He hissed, when he was almost sure that Snape and Filch couldn't hear him. Ginny however, ignored him and kept creeping down the corridor, careful to keep a safe distance between them and the slowly disappearing voices.

"Ginny," he said, and grabbed hold of her robes. "I mean it, what the hell are you doing?"

Ginny stopped, and turned around slowly. "Number one," she said, prying his hands off her robes, "minimal physical contact. Number two, we are going down to Snape's dungeons, seeing as how he is gone at the moment, and number three," she said, holding up another finger, "don't call me Ginny."

"Well, what _do _I call you then?" He asked a little more loudly, now that he was sure Filch and Snape were out of earshot.

"Oh, I don't know? Mud-blood lover? Muggle fanatic? Cheap slut?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, never mind."

They walked on, occasionally stopping for any un-common noises or approaching footsteps, and were two corridors away from Snape's dungeons when an astounding racket reached their ears.

"Shit." Ginny muttered, and without pausing to think, grabbed Draco's hand and fled down the corridor and into a secret passage, right as peeves banged out of the classroom, laughing manically, and swooping away just in time to avoid Filch and Snape.

"Damn that retched poltergeist!" Filch yelled, stomping away; Snape hurrying behind him, and mending a chair with his wand as he did so.

"That's the final straw. If Dumbledore doesn't get rid of him, I'm resigning!"

"Let's hope peeves stays then," Draco whispered into Ginny's ear, and Ginny nearly shivered as she felt his breath on her neck. Quick as a flash, she let go of Draco's hand, and peeked out behind the enchanted mirror.

Draco had had quite a fright when she pulled him right through it. He wondered how many secret passages she knew around Hogwarts. She had, of course, grown up with the Weasely twins. He sincerely doubted the fact that she didn't know every secret passage way in Hogwarts.

Ginny managed a feeble smile. "Yeah, let's. Although I have a feeling he'll be leaving soon anyway. Well, I got to go, it's already half past midnight… can you imagine that?"

Draco looked down at his watch, which was impossible to read in the dark. "If you say so. So I guess the Saturday 3am plan is still on?"

Ginny looked up at him once more. "Uh, yeah, that's the glitch."

Draco grinned. "Not much of a morning person?"

She shook her head and he smirked. "Too bad," and then without further a do, he was strolling down the corridor in a leisurely fashion, as if he wasn't the least bit worried that it was the middle of the night and there were _two_ very grumpy teachers around.

Ginny gaped after him. "Wait!" And he turned around to face her.

"What?"

"Aren't _I _supposed to be the one making the witty comment and then _I _walk away, leaving _you_ gaping and spluttering?" Ginny asked indignantly.

He just raised his eyebrows at her. "All right," he said after a moments thought. "If you've got to be a proud Gryffindor I suppose I can't object."

"You're so obnoxious."

"Okay, can I go now; you've had your cold departure."

Ginny frowned at him and pouted. "No. I want a hug."

He looked down at her coldly. "No way in hell."

Ginny smiled. "Very good! Except once again that was _my line_."

She held her arms out, and pouted at him.

_She's really good at puppy eyes, _Draco thought irritated. _But I'm not falling for it._

When he made no move to hug her, Ginny let her arms fall. _Well… it was worth a try. Kneeing him in the groin would have been satisfactory though._

She was startled however, when instead of walking away, he looked down at her once more, then slowly stepped forwards and hugged her very stiffly indeed.

She was so taken aback, that she couldn't think of anything to do except hug him back awkwardly and try to decide if she should remind him of the minimal physical contact rule – something she noticed annoyed him greatly – or if she should slap him.

She couldn't seem to decide however, and as time trickled by, she found her hold on him tighten, and her head finding his chest. She noticed how he didn't make a move to mover away either, but instead moved closer, wrapping his arms around her properly, instead of holding them in front of him like a porcelain ballerina.

This thought made the youngest Weasely member smile, and she was especially glad that Draco was too busy leaning down to whisper in her ear rather than to notice it.

"I think," Draco said, sending shivers down her spine "that it's time for your dramatic exit."

Ginny grinned up at him, and stepped away.

"I think so too. Good night Draco."

And then with a flick of her long red hair that whipped him in the face, she was gone.

The blonde 17 year old boy watched her retreating form with a shrug and raised eyebrows, before turning on his own heel, and making his way to the Slytherin head quarters, a small smile on his pale face. Little did her know that the person in his thoughts was doing the exact same thing, although she was trying to persuade herself the smile was actually a grimace.

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"_There_ you are!" Fred Weasely exclaimed, the minute the portrait hall swung open and Ginny climbed in through the hole that had formed in the wall. "We were about to send a search party."

"Lucky you didn't then. Well, I'm wrecked. Good night." She said, holding her head high and trying to stalk past her twin brothers.

"Hold on," George said. "Aren't you going to tell us who you were meeting down there?"

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "No, and, what makes you think I was anywhere downstairs? Could have been in the astronomy tower for all you care."

"We'll take that as a confession then?"

The red haired girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered and started moving again.

Too bad for her that George was faster, and latched himself on her arm. "Aw come on Gin, it's _us._ You know you can trust _us!_"

Ginny gave him a cold look, and he retreated. "Well, okay, we're sorry about that whole green pickled toad business but that was like… 5 years ago…"

"Or you don't have to tell us." Fred said hastily, noticing the murderous looks she was sending his twin. "It really isn't our business. Why don't you go rest Ginny? Yes, that's right. Have a nice long sleep." He added nervously, stumbling for words.

"Why, thank you _Fred_. I think I will. Good night." And she was gone.

Fred Weasely waited until he was sure she was in her dorm and couldn't hear them. "Didn't pick up on anything unusual then?" He asked his twin hopefully.

George's face was contorted into a confused look. If Fred had been a girl, he might have found it _cute_.

"Nope. Not unless she likes wearing men's cologne. She smelt a bit like _Jeopardy_."

Fred's face fell. "You're not considering smelling every single bloke in the school as they pass us are you?"

"Ever heard of the word _discrete?_"

"It's a very hard to find word in my dictionary. Oh God, here goes our social life."

"Unless of course, those nifty noses aren't as malfunctionate as we thought they were."

Fred grimaced. "I guess it's worth a try."

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**Malfuntionate isn't really a word is it? Review please, even if you don't like it. Flames _are_** **appreciated! **


	11. Chapter 11

The two girls watched interestedly as four barn owls flew their way, landing right in front of them, and splattering Ginny with orange juice as Errol collided with her goblet. The red head hastened to untie the letter attached to its leg, ignoring Hermione's hearty sniggers. She had been in a good mood ever since she'd gotten Travis' letter promising her he wouldn't let her down, and assuring her he would be there on Friday evening.

"Bad news?" Hermione asked worriedly as she saw her friend's face fall.

Ginny didn't answer but merely kept on reading, her expression growing more sombre by the minute, and when she'd finished the letter, she looked ready to kill. Or maybe just physically injure someone quite badly. Either way, Hermione was now 100 percent certain that it was bad news. Very bad news.

Even as she watched, Ginny glared across the hall at Draco, who was now munching on a jam toast, talking to a slytherin that she recognised as Frederic.

"Ginny? Ginny what are you doing?" For Ginny had just gotten up, the letter still clutched in her hand, although it was now shaking with rage, and had started walking across the hall in the direction of the Slytherin table.

Many heads turned as she crossed the hall, glaring determinedly at Draco, who didn't seem to notice the murderous red head until she'd thrown the letter in front of his face and demanded to know "what the fuck."

His eyes scanned the paper and his facial expression went from disbelief to shame – although that changed pretty quickly to content.

"I want to speak to you. Outside." Ginny snarled at him, following him at wand point.

By this time, every single student in the hall was watching, and many cried out in alarm as Draco unexpectedly drew his wand out and quick as a flash yelled "stupefy!"

Ginny keeled backwards, hitting the cold stone floor with a thud, and a cracking sound as her head follow suit. Before Hermione knew what was happening, blood was flowing from the wound in Ginny's head, and Mc Gonagall, Snape, Dumbledore and Hagrid were on their feet, hurrying towards Draco. Or at least, Mc Gonagall, Snape and Hagrid were. Dumbledore was already crouched down next to Ginny, and examining the wound with interest before muttering the words "enervate."

Ginny's eyes flickered open, and her face screwed up in pain. Then she saw Draco, standing next to Hermione, looking down at her worriedly, and as Ginny looked into his eyes, she could see guilt and sorrow behind the faked look of disgust. He really was quite hot with his hair hanging in front of his face Ginny thought, before remembering the letter and all the other unpleasant memories, and she shot him a look of disgust.

"Are you okay?" Ginny heard Hermione ask, except that there was something strange about her voice. It seemed distant, as if she was talking from somewhere very far away, and Ginny couldn't hear her properly.

"Fabulous," Ginny said sarcastically, and she could almost have sworn she saw Draco smile a little before he was pulled away by the ear by Professor Mc Gonagall. Ginny grinned at Hermione and stood up, swaying slightly.

"Aw fuckin hell," Ginny moaned, and then everything went black once more as her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the floor.

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"Just ASK her Ron, for God's sake. Hermione said she fancied you so just fuckin ask her."

"All right, just give me a minute will ya?"

"Ron just go! Hurry or else she'll be gone soon. I should know - whatever, just go!" He added as Ron looked at him questioningly.

Ron looked away, took a deep breath and stepped forward, walking resolutely toward the black haired girl, his jaw set.

"Raven?" He asked her, and she turned around, blushing as she saw who it was.

"Yeah?" She replied, stuttering ever so slightly.

"Will... um... will you um, do you... ah whatever. Are you going to the ball with anyone? Because, um, if you're not, do you want to come with me?"

Raven turned scarlet and refrained from screaming YESSS! Instead she smiled, shrugged slightly and said "sure, sounds fun. You coming to pick me up then?"

Ron turned around hesitantly to Harry, but he was gone. BUGGER. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THIS ON MY OWN? DOESNT HE KNOW I NEED MORAL SUPPORT? "Um, yeah, sure, what time?"

"Oh. Um, I don't mind anything works for me."

Ron swung his arms in an embarrassed sort of way. "Shall I come at around eight-ish?"

"Yeah, sure, great," and Raven smiled, a genuine smile, not an embarrassed smile this time. "See you then."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Okay."

And then with a final smile she was gone, and he turned around and climbed the stairs to Gryffindor tower alone, yelling at Harry for leaving him alone in his head.

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"Ginny... Ginny wake up!"

"Whaswrong?" The red head asked groggily, sitting up in her bed, and then falling back onto the covers with a groan. "Why does this always happen to me?"

Hermione shook her head impatiently. "I don't know. But listen Ginny, you've got to help me, I've -"

"What time is it?" Ginny asked suddenly, very aware that the only light in the room was coming from the light on the nightstand next to her.

"Um, six in the morning, but listen-"

"Six in the morning?" Ginny cried indignantly. "I don't know how you got in here and I don't care but you better clear off and let me sleep or else I swear I'm calling madam Pomfrey."

"But Ginny, this is an emergency!"

"Is the castle being attacked by death eaters?"

Hermione looked startled. "No, what-"

"Is anybody in mortal peril? Apart from Draco Malfoy that is when Madam Pomfrey lets me go, that is."

"No."

"Is Derek getting married?"

"No! But listen Gin-"

"Death eaters are NOT attacking, no one is about to die and Derek is not getting married, nothing to worry or fuss about, so if you don't mind-" Ginny pulled the covers back over herself "I'm going back to sleep. Goodnight."

And then Ginny was rolling over, pulling the blankets with her and nothing Hermione said made her turn around or decide to talk to her. In fact, the more Hermione tried to get Ginny to talk to her, the more Ginny ignored her, so she figured she might as well wait until breakfast to ask Ginny, if Ginny wasn't mad at her, that was.

Hermione sighed and left, knowing full well that she shouldn't have come in the first place but feeling let down all the same. "That's Ginny for you," she mumbled when the hospital wing door had closed shut magically behind her, and she then directed herself towards the kitchens for a cup of coffee and hopefully a donut, a slight scowl on her face.

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Ginny shut her eyes tight and hoped Hermione would go away. She had had barely any sleep and she was dead tired, and here she was AGAIN, 10 minutes later, probably demanding Ginny to help her pick out what earrings to wear with her dress tonight.

The footsteps came closer to her apparently sleeping form, and then stopped at her bed. Ginny rolled her eyes and rolled over.

"Hermione I told you, I am NOT helping you pick out outfits for the-" She stopped short and then sat bolt up right in the bed, clutching the covers and bringing them up to her chin.

"What the fresh hell do you want NOW?" She whispered loudly, and glaring at the boy with blonde hair before her.

He however remained silent, a small smile evident on his lips.

"Listen, I want you to clear off. Once and for all. Just... go away. You can keep your ruddy potion, I don't care. Just stay away from me and my friends, and if you want classified B products, contact Mundungus Fletcher."

Still Draco did not move, although his good humour seemed to have been replaced by sadness.

"You heard me." Ginny said, grabbing her wand and pointing it at him. "I'm giving you three seconds to clear off. One." She raised her wand. "Two," higher it went. "Three. Mungdl-"

"Expelliarmus!" And Ginny's wand, for the second time that day fell out of Ginny's hand, and soared into Draco's.

"Listen, Ginny," Draco began but he was cut off by Ginny once more.

"DONT call me Ginny." She hissed, her voice full of venom.

"Listen-"

"I don't see why I should. I told you to clear off, and you didn't. Then you stole my wand. If you don't move NOW I SWEAR-"

"Silencio." Draco muttered simply, and Ginny gave up talking. However, it did not stop her from glaring at him and raising a rather particular finger up at him.

"Just hear me out, please?" Draco pleaded as Ginny rolled her eyes furiously and clamped her hands over her ears, reminding Draco forcefully of Dobby, his previous house elf.

When Ginny did not respond, he reached out and grabbed her hands in his, drawing them away from her ears. This worked pretty well until Ginny realised that she had legs and feet and if her foot collided with a certain part between his legs, she wouldn't have to be in his presence much longer.

Luckily for Draco however, he sensed what she was about to do and pulled away just in time.

"Tut tut tut. Just who do you think you are?" He said, his voice no longer pleading but rather matching Ginny's anger. "Just fuckin listen to me okay? I'm trying to give you a heart felt apology-" Ginny's eyes widened considerably at this amount of information "and you're just trying to cause me more pain. So just STOP MOVING" he let her hands go, and she stopped struggling, "and LISTEN to me for a second."

Ginny crossed her arms, and glared at him once more. "Fine," she spat.

Draco smiled slowly, and then took a deep breath. "Okay. Um, first of all, I'm sorry for stunning you this morning. I saw the letter, and, well... I don't know what to say. But Blaise had been reading it over my shoulder, and it was the only logical thing to do..."

"For your reputation you mean?"

"Listen Ginny-"

"Weasely."

"Right, sorry. I mean that... well... I knew I shouldn't have stunned you the moment I did. I don't care about getting a weeks worth of detention, but you weren't supposed to get hurt, W. I'm sorry. I really am. I mean, I know you think I'm an insensitive bastard, and I probably am, but I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Which would be the reason why you stunned me," Ginny said slowly, comprehension dawning on her face. "You knew that if you just went along people might think we were friends... Oh my God."

Ginny looked up at the 17 year old boy who was watching her intently.

"I didn't mean for you to hit your head or get hurt at all W. I was just trying to help."

Ginny cocked her head at him and then said. "Double u?"

Draco grinned, and Ginny noticed again how straight and even his teeth were. "Yeah. I'm not allowed to call you Ginny, and Weasely sounds so formal."

Ginny nodded. "So you're saying we're friends?"

"Oh no! By all means no! But lets say... we have to be on speaking terms for the potion to work out."

Ginny grinned. "All righty Malfoy-ee."

Draco grimaced. "Just one thing. Don't call me that."

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Sorry, no kissing just yet... however... Christmas DOES seem to be coming up doesn't it? Review!


	12. Chapter 12

"Clear or black? Clear or black? Clear or-"

"Gin, calm down!"

"Calm down!" Ginny shrieked. "Calm down! I have exactly HALF AN HOUR to apply nail varnish and you're telling me to CALM DOWN!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, trying to perfect her nails with a toothpick. "Get started then," she said, and before her friend could start her ranting again she added "black."

Ginny nodded absently, unscrewing a pot of black nail varnish. "Do you think he'll like it?" Ginny asked, absent-mindedly dipping the brush in and out of the pot.

"Who?" Hermione asked. "Harry?"

Ginny laughed. "No. I meant Dr-Derek." She had almost said Draco. Why...? "Well, and Harry, I guess," she added, blushing. "He IS kinda cute. Not that I think I'd ever kiss him... that would be rather frightening." Ginny screwed up her face. "Definitely frightening. Although, I suppose it does depend on the circumstances," she added thoughtfully. "I suppose under mistletoe wouldn't be to bad, I'd have an excuse..."

Hermione tried to keep a straight face, but Ginny was too preoccupied by the pretext of imagining what it would be like kissing Harry, not to mention her nearly have asked for Draco's opinion that she didn't notice until Hermione raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"What?" She asked, defensively. "He IS kinda cute. Although he is my friend. But I don't think I would mind potential boyfriend... although not being in love with him might cause a slight problem... And you're one to talk!" She scowled. "Ooh! Wow Bill! That's so cool Bill! Tell me more about Egypt Bill!" Ginny mimicked in a high pitched girly voice while batting her eyelashes furiously.

Hermione choked. "That was ONE time. And that was a DARE."

Ginny grinned. "Still, it's not as if we asked for you to kiss him on the cheek as you left or smile at him sweetly," she added, knowing full well that this was always an embarrassing subject for Hermione.

"It's called IMPROVISATION Ginny!"

Ginny grinned. You're a very talented actress Hermione."

Hermione looked confused. "Thanks," she said uncertainly.

"Oh to Hell with it!" Ginny cried unexpectedly as the nail varnish got on her skin. "I am NEVER going to have to do this the muggle way, so what's the point? Nelshi ravan!"

Black nail polish appeared magically on her nails, and she smiled contentedly to herself. "Hm... Wethr Onlg!" He nails were now one centimetre longer. "Cool! Do I want fake jewels? Repea Elwej!" And miniature fake jewels appeared, spelling GINNY in fancy writing on her nails. "Groovy!"

Hermione gaped. "How the hell did you do that?" She asked, abandoning her nail varnish and grabbing Ginny's hand, pulling it rather painfully judging by Ginny's startled cry, into her range of view.

Ginny shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the momentary pain. "Just a little something I picked up."

Hermione crossed her arms defiantly across her chest, her brow was furrowed and she glared at Ginny, as if jealous that Ginny had learnt something before she had.

Ginny grinned at her friend's face. "Gimme your hand."

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"Do you think I should ask her, Ron?" Harry asked nervously, fidgeting with the collar on his dress robes. "I mean, you don't mind, do you?"

Ron shrugged, trying to fix his hair. "Call her my sister, but I really do not have a clue how she'll take it. She agreed on going with you, so that's a good sign isn't it?"

Harry sighed. "Yea-ah, but is it enough? I mean, she doesn't act like Parvati around me, but...?"

Ron stopped fussing with his hair and turned to face his best friend. "I think," he said, brandishing the comb in Harry's direction, "that if you want to ask her, do it towards the end. If she says no, then that's okay, you have the whole night to think of an apology. If she says yes, then great!" He turned back to the mirror, to inspect his appearance. "Either way, you win."

He grinned at Harry through the mirror, and then clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm off, see you in twenty minutes." He grinned and waved Harry goodbye before disappearing through the door.

Harry sighed at his reflection, and pulled a face. "I suppose it could be worse," he muttered. "I suppose I could be stuck on the inside of a mirror like you are," he told his reflection, who scowled.

"Well, wish me luck," he grinned feebly, at his reflection, who was forced to grin back, looking terribly irritated.

"It's no fun, you know that right? At least YOU have a life. All I have to do is hang around and watch you prance around getting ready for a dance."

Harry sighed, and looked around the room; Ron's reflection was nodding in agreement to Harry's reflection's statement.

Shaking his head, he positioned Ron's mirror in front oh his.

"If you get bored of each other," he called over his shoulder at the two reflections, "you are not obliged to stay. It's not like Ron or I will be standing in front of you anyways. Night!"

And he shut the door, laughing slightly as he set down the steps, in search for Ginny.

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He found her pretty quickly, she was standing by the fireplace chatting to a 5th year girl, whom he did not recognise.

"Hi," he said, coming up to her and grinning widely. "You look... wow... you look great. Better than great actually... more along the lines of extremely gorgeous... where's Hermione? I thought you were waiting with her?"

Ginny blushed scarlet, and smiled at him shyly. "She went off early to meet Travis." She rolled her eyes. "You know, her boyfriend." She did the quotation marks with her hands at the last word.

Harry grinned. "Oh yeah, I think she's mentioned that... at least 10 times or so. So... you ready to go?"

Ginny smiled. "Yeah, sure." She turned to the girl she'd been talking to. "See you there!" She squealed excitedly, and then she set off to the Great Hall with Harry.

"Well..." Harry said, when they'd escaped the packed common room. "THAT was awkward."

Ginny smiled slightly, cocking her head up at him. "I think what's awkward is that everybody expects us to be going together. Ron mentioned something about Seamus and Dean betting on who you'd be asking."

Harry looked down at her curiously. "Really? Who did they think I would ask?"

Ginny frowned. "Dean thought you'd be going with Lavender, and Seamus said something about Hermione or Cho Chang."

Harry laughed bitterly. "Yeah, RIGHT. Cho, as if that's ever going to happen."

Ginny stayed silent, thinking about what Harry had just said. "Yeah, RIGHT. Cho. As if that's ever going to happen." The sentence echoed through her mind, and she found herself thinking about Draco. The chances of them getting together was about minus one hundred compared to Harry and Cho.

Ginny wasn't even aware of the awkward silence that had settled between them until they had almost reached the Great Hall.

"Remember the last dance we had to go to?" Harry asked, grimacing at the memory of the Tri Wizard Tournament. "Bloody nightmare wasn't it?"

Ginny laughed. "You sound exactly like Ron."

Harry smiled, a genuine smile. "You can't deny it was awful though."

"Yeah, it was pretty terrible wasn't it?" She chuckled at the memory. "My toes hurt so much from Neville trodding on them that I could barely walk properly the next morning. I had to go see madam Pomfrey during lunch break for pain killers."

"Ouch. That sucks."

"Yeah, it did."

Silence fell over them once again as they entered the entrance hall, now packed with students. Before Harry or Ginny knew what was happening, Hermione had fought her way through the crowd, hand in hand with a very handsome looking boy.

"Hi!" She said, breathlessly.

"Harry, Ginny this is Travis. Travis, these are two of my very best friends."

Harry and Travis exchanged curt nods, small smiles on their faces, but Ginny, ecstatic about finally having met her friend's boyfriend enveloped him into a tight hug, catching Travis completely off guard.

"Hi!" Ginny squealed, letting Travis go and holding him out at arm's length, very much the way Mrs. Weasely did after Ron and Ginny came back after a year at Hogwarts.

"I've heard so many good things about you! I'm Ginny, Ron's sister. I can't believe I'm actually meeting you! I thought Hermione had made you up you know, she never shut up about you and the only "proof" - Ginny used the hand quotations "she had about you being real was a bracelet. Hermione told me all about you, I feel as if I've known you my whole life! You go to Nimberth don't you? I have a cousin who goes there. Well, she's not really a cousin... more like a friend's cousin, maybe you know her... Francis?"

Travis gaped at her. "Could you repeat that... a little slower please?"

Ginny laughed good naturedly. "Sorry, all the excitement building up."

Hermione coughed softly. "What she means is," she said, smiling at Ginny, "is that she's pleased to meet you."

Travis grinned at Ginny revealing nicely even teeth, though not as nice as Derek's or Malfoy's. "Nice to meet you too Virginia."

Ginny scowled. "DONT call me that. Call me Ginny, and that's an order."

Travis looked slightly alarmed. "Okay... Ginny."

Polite conversation was made after that, consisting of Harry and Travis debating who they thought would win the next Quidditch World Cup and why, and exchanging opinions on quidditch teams.

"Puddlemere United," Travis challenged Harry, his eyes bright with mischief, reminding Harry forcefully of Ron's older brothers, Fred and George.

Harry shook his head. "They're good, but they don't beat the Fringled Hervats for miles. A friend of mine used to play for them, he's being replaced at the moment, he's in St Mungoes for a while."

"No kidding!" Travis exclaimed. "Wood?"

Harry grinned. He certainly _did_ approve of Travis. He would have to remember to congratulate Hermione on her excellent choice later. "Yeah, he used to be Quidditch Captain, he left of course two years ago, he was replaced by Angelina, that's her over there-" he motioned to the tall Hispanic looking girl, a few feet away from them. "But she's leaving too in the summer, so I get to be captain." He grinned.

Travis shook his head at Harry good naturedly. "I'm hating you already," he said with a smile, envy was written across his face.

Meanwhile, Hermione had excused herself for reasons un-known to Ginny, and as Ginny stood awkwardly next to the two chatting boys, she felt eyes on her.

Turning her head ever so slightly, she found herself looking into Draco Malfoy's pale blue eyes. He nodded at her ever so slightly and she gave him a small smile, before quickly breaking eye contact, suddenly nervous.

Then, before she was able to spare him a second glance, the oak doors opened, and they were let inside.

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Sorry to let the romantics down, no kissing yet… however, the ball hasn't started yet has it? ..winks.. Review! If you are so inclined…


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